Miami Beach. Last night at South Beach, on the
evening of December 6, Amsterdam based Studio Drift, Lonneke Gordijn
and Ralph Nauta, presented their latest work “FRANCHISE FREEDOM – a
flying sculpture by Studio Drift in partnership with BMW” to an
audience of hundreds of stunned guests and astonished onlookers. On
the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach, 300 illuminated drones moved
across the sky above the ocean mimicking a flock of birds and creating
a performative artwork at the interface between technology, science,
and art.

BMW Studio DRIFT Teaser.

“Everything can be simulated in animation and virtual reality, but we
think there is an importance in creating real experiences that you can
feel and see with your own eyes in the real world, not only through a
screen”, says Lonneke Gordijn, co-founder of Studio
Drift, Amsterdam, about the general mind set and approach of Studio Drift.

“This was a once in a lifetime pleasure to behold,” says
Hildegard Wortmann, Senior Vice President Brand
BMW. “It was Edmund Burke – in the middle of the 18th century within
his well-known treatise on the sublime – who wrote of beauty as being
a movement. This is what Studio Drift and Bayerische Motoren Werke
both wholeheartedly subscribe to. ‘FRANCHISE FREEDOM’ is a
technological wonder and a breathtaking aesthetic experience.”

In celebration of Art Basel in Miami Beach 2017, Studio Drift, BMW,
Future\Pace as well as Faena premiered “FRANCHISE FREEDOM”. By
imitating the natural phenomenon of a swarm of birds, it is the first
time for this orchestrated movement to be presented by machines
working with decentralized algorithms at a very large scale.
Additional shows weather permitting are planned nightly at 8 PM from
Thursday to Sunday, December 7-10. The drones perform on the beach
above the sea between 32nd and 33rd Street off Collins Avenue behind
the Faena Hotel Miami Beach. They are visible from a large distance -
detailed timing will be shared on Instagram by Studio Drift
@studio.drift, Pace Gallery @pacegallery and by BMW on Instagram
@bmwgroupculture and Facebook #bmwgroupculture.

Studio Drift questions the delicate balance between the group and the
individual. The sacrifice made by the individual subjecting to the
group gives off the illusion of freedom, creating a never-ending
cycle. To create “FRANCHISE FREEDOM”, Studio Drift studied the natural
flight patterns of starlings and translated them into software that
was specially developed and embedded in the drones. Their technology
is based on ongoing university research on flocking behavior, as the
principles of self-organization have become more and more relevant in
our changing world.

BMW has a 50-year global track record of recognizing and enabling
talent in the arts. The company makes artistic visions come true and
honors the full creative freedom of any artist or institution they
collaborate with. When Studio Drift sought a dialogue with BMW in
regard to their ambitious project, the company, as long-term partner
of Art Basel, could not pass on the challenge. For the period of over
half a year, discussions ensued between BMW and Studio Drift - just as
they did with artists like Jeff Koons, Olafur Eliasson, and Cao Fei
before them.

The full collaboration is documented by four films, all slated to be
released by the end of 2017. The first one, a portrait of Studio Drift
and footage of “FRANCHISE FREEDOM – a flying sculpture by Studio Drift
in partnership with BMW” can be found at: www.bmw.com
and www.press.bmwgroup.com.

While Studio Drift presented their latest artwork at the interface
between science, art and technology, Bayerische Motoren Werke had one
of their latest masterpieces on site: the BMW Concept 8
Series was on display for guests to see up close in the Faena
Beach Dome on Decemer 6, 2017. The study car serves as a taster of a
forthcoming BMW model - the BMW Concept 8 Series stands for new design
ideas and form-building techniques, representing the pinnacle of
sports performance and exclusivity at BMW and slated for launch in
2018 as part of the most ambitious model offensive in the company's history.